She stood staring at herself in the mirror.

Her time on the road had worn down any vanity she had as a young Cairhien noblewoman, the silk dresses long gone, swapped for sturdy shirts and trousers. But the last few years had made more of an impact on her than she realized. She worried constantly that she was running out of time to find the Dragon Reborn, felt the threads of the pattern slipping through her fingers, knew that the fate of the world was on her shoulders. It had hollowed out her cheeks and etched deep lines around her eyes.

On the road, she considered herself a tool to be used against the Dark One and a tool did not care about its appearance. But here, in this little hut that she and Siuan had built in Tear, she finally allowed herself to be seen as a woman.

She was suddenly distracted from her thoughts by Siuan's warm and sleepy presence behind her, arms slipping around her waist, a murmur in her ear. "What are you thinking about?"

The other woman had been deep in slumber when she left her in their bed. Moiraine smiled somewhat sheepishly, as she met her lover's eyes in the mirror. "That I'm not 25 anymore."

She felt Siuan's lips lift against her skin. "I loved you when you were 25." A gentle kiss was pressed to her neck. "I love you now that you're almost 45." Moiraine let herself be turned around to face Siuan's gaze, mesmerized by the desire she could see in dark eyes that drifted down her body and up again. "And I will love you when you're 265... when we're finally both old and wrinkled and grey. Moiraine, every time you leave me, you come back marked by all the sacrifices you’ve made for our mission. How can I not fall more and more in love with you every time I see you?”

Moiraine smiled wryly at her words. “You might wear the stole of all Ajahs and none, but you’re still a Blue at heart.”

“I am a bad Amrylin.” Siuan admitted cheekily. Moiraine felt herself growing breathless at the sight of the other woman’s dimples, a reminder that they fell in love as novices, giggling in the back row of their lessons, laughing at the fallout of the crazy pranks they played together. “Would you like to punish me?”

Smirking in return, Moiraine pushed the other woman back down on the bed.

Spoilers ahead for the finale!

An aspect of the final battle that got lost after Viola's amazing attack, was the fact that Tula nearly killed her son. And that, I think, is something I would really like to delve my teeth into, to properly look at what happened.

The thing that struck me the most during Tula's attack on her son, was that Jaysohn did manage to snap her out of it. In the context of the story, Jaysohn grappled his mom to get her to stop, and even after getting viciously bit by her, he still managed to get her back to herself. He managed to get to his mom fast enough, and used himself to protect the others from the mindless being Tula had become. And, even when faced with near death, this little kid manages to get back up and attack the creature that did this to his mother. Not once did he blame her, having understood enough about the situation to realise his mom was not in control. He knows, he understood, that this was Phoebe, not Tula. And so, the moment he is able to free his mom, still wounded and near death's door, he goes after Phoebe so that his mom won't be taken again.

Tula, however, was aware of everything she did to Jaysohn. She was painfully aware of how badly she hurt her son, how she nearly killed him. And, as Brennan describes;

She is broken, in a way she has never been before. She nearly killed her baby, used as a puppet because she's alive when she should have been dead. The Blue that keeps her alive is what nearly caused her to kill her son. Tula nearly lost everything, yet, once more, it was hope and love that brought her back once more. Her son brought her back.

However, she was silent for the rest of the battle until Phoebe finally fell, and Jaysohn nearly died. She was quiet, too horrified with what she nearly did. Perhaps, had more time been afforded to that moment with Tula and Jaysohn before he decided to retaliate against Phoebe, there would have been...something...that went on. A focus on the fact that it was Tula who went for another member of their family, whilst Ava went for the ground and the reactor. What would that do to her, I cannot help but wonder. What did that do to her, in the immediate aftermath, when she could slow down and process what happened. She must live with the knowledge she nearly killed her own child, and that, had he been just a little weaker or just a little slower, she would've succeeded. She might have been able to bring him back, like she did with Sybil...but she would have to live with the knowledge that she took her son's life. And that thought is horrifying.

Yet, it makes her gentleness with Lukas later all the more significant. Even with the blood of her son on her hands, she still chooses to hope for a better tomorrow. She still chooses to give Lukas - and herself - another chance, another tomorrow. Bad things could have happened, but they didn't, and they all made it out. The "what ifs" will remain in the shadows, in the nightmares, but in the daylight, she will keep her head high. It doesn't lessen the impact of her deeds or her burdens, but it can make them bearable. And, with the addition of her son's refusal to blame her, it makes it just the little easier. She deserves a new tomorrow, too.

spreading the girlfailure Vanessa Afton agenda !!!!!! i need her to be at rock bottom !!!!! i need her disheveled and rebuilding her whole sense of self !!!!!

All evidence suggests yes

Annual reminder that Aang wasn't a terrible dad, that one episode was badly written and had poor perspective. Aang was a busy, working dad who had a lot of stuff to do, and then suddenly his third kid was a full-on Airbender and he was literally the only one qualified to teach this baby, so then he finally had an excuse to put his family before his duties ("My family IS my duty now, suckers!!!"), and so Kya and Bumi were all "What the heck, Dad???" because they were now teens (iirc) and they missed out on all that stuff.

It was basically Aang going from "my family has 20% of my time" to "my family has 40% of my time". Still not enough, probably, but Aang could finally go and explore his own culture without feeling guilty about leaving the rest of the world to fend for itself.

it’s a good thing we don’t know this boy’s real name. because if we did it would most definitely be joe hardy and then my top two ships would both be called jancy. and that is highly confusing

I feel like Kim and Roxie would have a cat that's an absolute fucking bitch to everyone but them and I felt like you needed to know this

(I should be revising rn and I'm thinking about this bitchass roxipine cat the brainrot is real)

Oh my god... just like my cat for real.....

(The bastard herself; I tried to find photos where she looked upset/angry but there are. So fucking many photos of her to parse through I cannot understate.)

Anyway. Y e s. I am ascribing to this.

want to spoon my f/o soo so bad (she is 6 feet tall but that doesn’t stop me) i am so in love with her i love them so so so so so so so much

@ Milkvans, this is what I mean when I say I want El and Mike to break up btw:

What I DON'T want is this:

As in many arguments, we want the same thing. We're just using different wording and I noticed a pattern that you didn't.

I don't want them to stop having a relationship. I want them to stop dating.

made banana chocolate chip pancake & slathered em in butter & my mom’s homemade red currant jelly & also homemade smoked maple syrup

I can't post it here cause it'l get my blog wiped but Wolfgang Tillmans has this really beautiful photo Nackt, 2 (Nude, 2) that is just this extreme closeup of some dudes butt and ballsack and it makes me want to shoot some beautifully lit high art nudes. I would love to do some Mapplethorpey photos shot on my big 4x5 camera on a really lovely film stock. Im just not much of a model myself so i'd have to find a guy to pose for it.

I might get to drive sled next weekend or the weekend after 👀

...

Also I never knew that there was even a single color photograph of my grandparents' wedding in 1952. I've only ever seen the ones in black and white. Don't they look beautiful? Didn't I just come from the most gorgeous people?